La Roux announce release date for second studio album

La Roux have announced their second studio album. Trouble In Paradise will be released on 7 July, more than half a decade after the premiere of their debut.

The 2014 La Roux may not be the same act who scored a worldwide hit with the 2009 single Bulletproof, however. The project was previously described as a duo, with singer Elly Jackson and producer Ben Langmaid. Though Langmaid shunned the spotlight, he shared the group's Grammy and co-wrote all but one of the songs on their first LP.

Now, Langmaid seems to be out of the picture: he is no longer listed on La Roux's Facebook page, and Trouble In Paradise is co-produced by Jackson and engineer Ian Sherwin. It is not yet known if Langmaid has left the group: La Roux never announced the split, and Langmaid has assiduously retweeted all of this week's album news.

Let Me Down Gently, the first single from Trouble In Paradise, was revealed last night on Zane Lowe's BBC radio show. It's full of synths and sighs, melancholy and determination. The album's tracklist suggests a playful tone, with song titles such as Kiss And Not Tell and Cruel Sexuality. Sexotheque is a "shocking" tune, according to a press release, inspired by Montreal's red-light district.

"I think I’ve come across in the past as almost as if I don’t like [a] kind of sexual element to music or entertainment," Jackson told Dean Piper in 2011. "But I do ... [And] I want the sound of the [new] record to be a lot more sexy but not in a 'I’m going to fuck you in a club' sort of way. I want it to be old-fashioned sex and old-fashioned sexy – a bit of mystery and a bit of a smoky kind-of slickness."

La Roux have also announced a handful of tour dates, playing gigs in North America this summer and performing in the UK in November. Fans who pre-order the album will be entitled to advance ticket sales starting on 19 May.